Aftermath of the 3-2 elimination of the Red Wings: “Hell of a series, hell of a game.”

That was Todd McLellan talking after the game and I think it’s safe to say few would argue with him.

His counterpart took a few more words to say essentially the same thing even though things did not go Detroit’s way at the end.

“We’ve got to give them credit,” Mike Babcock said. “They’re a good team. It was a good series, it was entertaining, it was fast, it was hard for any team to lead the other team. It was just one of those series.”

Games could not get any closer and that’s according to the Elias Sports Bureau, which immediately told ESPN that this was the most tightly competed series in NHL history (though I’m not exactly sure how that would be defined).

With two columnists, two stories and notebook in the print edition, it’s hard to come up with unused material for WTC.

But here’s a stab at it after a pretty impressive 3-2 victory for the Sharks over a forward-depleted Red Wings team that still came close to forcing overtime.

*****Hard not to make Patrick Marleau the focus of attention, all things considered. It took an extra game to do it, but Marleau finally responded to all that “gutless” business with a perfomance that was everything but that. Yeah, there was the obvious game-winning goal, but there was also more physical play than we’re used to seeing from No. 12, including a hit on Patrick Eaves in the game’s final seconds.

“Patty’s been through an awful lot and this year’s no different than any other year,” Todd McLellan said. “Patty, Jumbo, they become the lightning rods. When it doesn’t go well, people question them and that was out there.

“The way we played them in the series, the amount of minutes that the got, we obviously believe in him immensely,” the coach added.

“For him to end up with the winning goal is pretty special – for our team and for him,” McLellan continued. “I think the monkey will be off his back and he’ll be even that much better next series.”

Marleau finally opened up a little more to the heat he took from Jeremy Roenick after Game 5.

He acknowledged that, yes, maybe it felt a little bit good to quiet his critics. But he showed he knows the real work still lies ahead.

“Being able to get the winner and contribute on the scoresheet and have my name on there, it was nice,” he said. “But we still have our best hockey ahead of us and that’s what we’re looking forward to now.”

Marleau, if anyone needs to be reminded, was without a point through six games this series. But he scored two game-winning goals against Detroit a year ago when San Jose won in five games, so that makes him the shooter on three of the eight game-winning shots the Sharks have used to eliminate Detroit in consecutive years.

*****So did the current captain say anything to the former captain after Marleau scored his game-winning goal.

“No, I was just sucking wind at that point,” Joe Thornton said. “I just wanted to get back on the bench and get some rest.”

****Dan Boyle said that Marleau’s ownership of the game-winner was all but a scripted, foregone conclusion.

“I figured it was going to go down that way. It had to. It was set up for that – the guy takes all the heat in the world,” Boyle said. “It wasn’t a big surprise to see him score and it was just a matter of hanging on at the end. Very happy for him.

“You’ve got to take your lumps and he did,” Boyle continued. “He kept to himself, stayed strong mentally and came through when we needed him most.”

****And the last word (for now at least) on the Marleau situation, well go back to Marleau himself. He was not resting on his laurels after going without a point in the first six games of the series.

“It felt great to be on the scoresheet and get the game winner, but there’s still a long way to go,” he said. “We’ve got another month to play and we’ve got better hockey to go.”

****Speaking of which, is it too soon to remind people that Raffi Torres now plays for the Canucks?

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.